Bjørn & sons putting together Karel’s ”small Lego garbage truck” Christmas present. It was difficult to tell who was more excited about it. ”I can’t believe I have an excuse to do this again!” saith Pappa.

We had perfect weather during our stay in Arendal — not too cold, fresh snow, and lots of grown-ups to play with.

Here we have the somewhat forced family photo. Karel is learning the art of smiling on command while Emil perfects the art of looking tough.

On the verge of getting sick, Emil Birk decides it is much more practical to wear a ”’kosedyr”/ stuffed animal than it is to carry one around. He spent three days wearing this dinosaur costume…and no, the tail is not a problem to fit in the car seat.

K and E wearing the buffs they received from the Fetters. Thanks, Jen, Dave, Ella June and Enzo!!!

Christmas season means pepperkake. The boys were both much more interested in decorating this year than in past years… and Emil’s dreams were surely filled with gingerbread men as more than once the first words out of his mouth in the morning and the last ones before bed had to do with pepperkake. A few belated photos of our December endeavors.

**update: the boys saw these photos when they got up this morning and both oohed and aahhed and gave a small sigh of good-things-now-gone. ”I wish we could eat more pepperkake…*sigh*” said a wistful Karel. ”Pepperkake gris!! (gingerbread pig!!) said an equally wistful Emil. Who knew the power of molasses? **